NYC-Feature Story

Joining the Military?
Know what you're getting into

The military demands a long-term, often dangerous commitment. Before deciding whether to enlist, you should research and consider this commitment seriously.
In addition to Ya-Ya Network activists, NYC talked to Douglas Smith, a spokesperson at U.S. Army Recruiting Command’s Department of Public Affairs. Below are some facts about the military that all teens should know. Above all, don’t sign any contract you have not read and understood completely.

Fact: Joining the military is an eight-year commitment.

You may have heard you can enlist for two to six years. This is false. All military contracts require an eight-year commitment. You may sign up for “active” or full-time service lasting as little as two years, but it’s not over with that.

Says Douglas Smith: “You’re going to serve whatever time of active service you’ve enlisted for, and then you’re given the option of going into the individual ready reserve—where you’re on standby for potential recall—or serving in a reserve unit to finish off the eight years. Of course, there will be incentives to encourage you to serve in the actual unit.”

Besides this, your contract gives the military the right to invoke a “stop loss,” or an extension of your active duty service. During wartime, even individual ready reserve troops may be called up and deployed as needed.

Fact: Joining the military doesn’t ensure you’ll get money for college.

There are different GI Bills that offer returning soldiers benefits: the Montgomery GI Bill, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and others. If you quit the military early or get kicked out, you receive nothing under any of these programs. And it’s important to sign up for the right program: The Post-9/11 Bill, initiated last August, doesn’t pay for vocational school, flight school, or job training programs.

The new bill will pay for four-year college tuition “up to the highest public college tuition in the state in which you’re going to school,” said Smith. If you aspire to attend an expensive private college, you’ll need additional financial resources.

For more information on educational benefits for veterans, visit gibill.va.gov.

Fact: There were 2,908 reports of sexual assault involving military service members in 2008.

That figure comes from the Department of Defense (DoD), but it may be only the tip of the iceberg. The 2006 Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members, also conducted by the DoD, suggested that 6.8% of women and 1.8% of men on active duty had received “unwanted sexual contact”—including touching, attempted rape, or actual rape—but roughly 80% of these women and men had not reported it. Most said they didn’t tell their supervisors because they worried about how they would be perceived.

To encourage more service members to speak out, the department now allows victims to file anonymous reports, giving them access to mental health and medical services even if they don’t press charges.

Facts: The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is higher than that of non-veterans. Almost one in four homeless Americans is a veteran.

As of last March, unemployment among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans ages 20 to 24 had reached 15%, compared with a 13.8% unemployment rate for non-veterans in the same age group, according to a story in USA Today. Veterans often have trouble translating skills they acquired in the military into marketable civilian skills, a Department of Labor economist told the paper. One veteran said employers are prejudiced against veterans, considering them unstable.

Whatever the reason, Ya-Ya organizers say this proves that the military won’t guarantee you a leg up in your civilian career. Meanwhile, in November President Barack Obama responded to veterans’ job woes with the Veterans Employment Initiative. This executive order requires multiple federal agencies to “lead by example” and take specific steps toward employing more veterans in their ranks.

Days earlier, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced his department will expand and add to veteran support services over the next five years, with the goal of “ending homelessness among veterans.”

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